Video: "Starz Inside," A New Series of Specials Offers Monthly Originals Starting in September

Video: "Starz Inside," A New Series of Specials Offers Monthly Originals Starting in September

Series Hosted by Acclaimed Film Critic Richard Roeper

Programs Include Compelling Look at Legendary San Francisco Filmmakers, Featuring George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola; History of Vampires in Film; Popularity of Video Games Turned Into Movies; and the World-Wide Success of Anime

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Starz Inside, a new monthly series of original specials from Starz Entertainment, begins airing in September with Fog City Mavericks, followed by Bloodsucking Cinema; Hollywood Goes Gaming; and Anime: Drawing a Revolution; it was announced by Michael Ruggiero, vice president of original programming. Starz Inside will be hosted by film critic Richard Roeper, host of the popular weekly movie review program "Ebert & Roeper." A 2008 slate of six additional Hollywood-focused specials will be announced shortly.

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Starz Inside will be the viewer's source to examine people, trends and culture in movie entertainment. "We've produced original specials in the past," says Ruggiero. "But this is the first time in Starz' history that we will have a monthly series, offering a comprehensive look at a number of interesting film topics. This new direction to broaden the spectrum of our original programming is very exciting for us, and we are absolutely thrilled to have Richard Roeper on board as our host." Adds Roeper, "I am delighted to be the tour guide for this fascinating journey through some of the landmark moments in film history. This is a prestige project featuring some of the world's top movie artists providing in-depth, inside looks at the world of cinema."

The series kicks off on Monday, September 24 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) with Fog City Mavericks: The Filmmakers of San Francisco, a compelling exploration of the legendary filmmakers who call the San Francisco Bay Area home including George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood, Chris Columbus and producer Saul Zaentz. The special weaves interviews, commentaries and unforgettable moments from some of the most visionary movies ever created such as American Graffiti, the Star Wars film series, the Indiana Jones film series, The Godfather trilogy, Apocalypse Now, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, Toy Story, The Incredibles, Lost in Translation, Flags of Our Fathers and many others. It also features interviews with those who have worked with Bay Area mavericks: Steven Spielberg, Michael Douglas, Anthony Minghella, Milos Forman and Frank Darabont.

The frightful month of October brings out the bat in all of us with the original special Bloodsucking Cinema, (premieres October 26) exploring Vampire films, where the fanged ones continue to drain audiences of their life blood - money. Films include Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula, Interview with the Vampire, The Lost Boys, Blade, Van Helsing and Underworld. Bloodsucking Cinema features interviews with directors John Carpenter (Vampires), Len Wiseman (Underworld, Underworld: Evolution), John Landis (Innocent Blood) and Joel Schumacher (The Lost Boys), actors Kristanna Loken (BloodRayne), Stuart Townsend (Queen of the Damned), and critics Leonard Maltin and Harry Knowles (Ain't It Cool News).

Hollywood Goes Gaming, premiering on November 26, follows the meteoric rise in the popularity of video games transformed into films for the big screen and vice-versa. It will explore how the two got to this point, delving into the origins of videogames and exploring the mutual influence the two mediums have exerted on one another for the past three decades as well as the direction they are headed. Featured in the doc includes Shia LaBeouf (Surf's Up, Transformers), Michelle Rodriguez ("Lost"), Atari and Pong creator Nolan Bushnell, director Paul WS Anderson (Resident Evil), director John Woo (creator of game company Tiger Hill Entertainment) and director Clive Barker (Hellraiser). Films and games explored include 300, Resident Evil, Lara Croft, Surf's Up and many others.

Anime: Drawing a Revolution, a provocative, in-depth documentary on the astonishing art of Anime, premieres December 17. The special not only looks at its pioneers and creators, but the influences on its own Japanese culture, the world in general and the leading Hollywood filmmakers. Films include Spirited Away, Ghost in the Shell, Princess Mononoke, Akira, The Matrix, Transformers and others.

Richard Roeper has been co-host of "Ebert & Roeper" since 2000. For the last 20 years, he has been a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. He was also a contributor to Fox News in Chicago, where his commentaries were nominated for five Emmys, winning twice. He is the author of seven books.

Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. It offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz(R) and Encore(R) brands with approximately 15.8 million and 28.2 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs more than 1,000 movies per month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services including Starz HD, Starz On Demand and Vongo. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation that is attributed to Liberty Capital Group.

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Source: Starz Entertainment, LLC

CONTACT: Steve Belgard of Starz Entertainment, +1-720-852-5843

Web site: http://www.starz.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment